


Stories in the End

by Origamidragons



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 03:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10179572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origamidragons/pseuds/Origamidragons
Summary: Reasons to never, ever invade that insignificant planet at the end of the galaxy.





	

Erasi rubbed her forehead and frowned, trying to ignore the burgeoning ache beneath her wing buds. "Okay, do we have a target set? Someplace with enough dihydrogen monoxide to siphon?"

Her subordinate- what was his name? Private... Tieras, she thought- nodded eagerly, bouncing on his heels, before remembering to salute. "Yes, ma'am! Coordinates set for Sol-3, natively known as Terra or Earth. Surface is seventy percent dihydrogen monoxide, should serve our purposes well."

She nodded, only half-listening to his words. "Alright, yeah, that sounds good- wait."

Pause. Rewind. Reboot. 

"Did you say _Earth_? Are you _mad_?" she demanded, spines flaring up on impulse. The private cowered, clearly frightened, and she forced herself to calm down. Marginally.

"S-sorry, ma'am?" Tieras asked from his new spot in the far corner.

"Find another target," she ordered, her voice icy cold, flat, and brooking absolutely no room for argument. The private did so, hesitantly stumbling over to the flight computer and fiddling with it for a second, star maps flickering across the screen. He typed in a set of coordinates and slapped 'submit,' and a good deal of the tension flooded out of Erasi's shoulders when she felt the warp engines shifting gears under her feet. 

She sank into a chair, almost breathless from the close call, resting her head in her hands. After a moment, she heard footsteps approaching, more than a little uncertain, then a body sinking into the chair beside her. 

"Ma'am," Tieras said after a moment of uncomfortable silence, "if I may ask... what's special about Sol-3? I thought it was just your ordinary Class V civilization. I'm sorry if it's not my place, but..." 

"No, you're fine," she cut him off, bringing her head up to look him in the eyes. "It's not the sort of story you would know- how old are you, three cycles? Four?" 

"Three," he mumbled. 

"So you weren't around under the old regime," Erasi murmured almost to herself, voice a low buzz, but her subordinate heard her all the same. 

"Regime?" 

"Homeworld wasn't always run by the Hive," she explained, settling in a familiar storytelling cadence. The Tereme were a race that thrived on stories, after all, passed them down from generation to generation verbally even though their technology was plenty advanced enough to record their tales digitally. 

No outsider had ever heard a Terem storytelling, except for one. 

The private recognized the beginning of a story and obediently leaned forward, clasping his hands in his lap, the picture of attentiveness, and Erasi continued. 

"We used to be ruled by a brutal queen. She called herself the Heptarch, and her rule was cruel and tyrannical. Any opposition was swiftly wiped out. She weaponized the Hivemind to detect any seeds of doubt or rebellion."

Tieras shuddered, which Erasi felt was the appropriate reaction. It was good to know that her storytelling skills hadn't rusted during her years in space. 

"Then a man, who wasn't really a man, fell from the sky and ended her reign. And yet, even when she lay defenseless, disconnected from the Hivemind... he offered her mercy. She did not take it, and the drones that had been freed from her control dragged her away. He named the members of the Hive himself. Do you know what he said, then, to them?" 

Tieras shook his head, wordless. 

"'Make this world a better one,'" she quoted, her words taking on an alien accent. "'Do better. Be better. Build a world for your children, and your children's children, to live in.'"

"Wait," Tieras said, his first interruption since the story had begun. "I know those words. Those are carved into the wall of the Hive."

"Exactly," Erasi said, pleased that he seemed to be understanding. "That man called himself the Doctor. He's where we get that word- Doctor, someone who makes things better." 

"But what does this have to do with Sol-3?" the private asked, eventually asking the question she'd known he would. 

"Earth is the Doctor's home," Erasi answered. "It's his domain. It's a rule written in the stars, written in the burning ships and broken bodies of those who've tried to subjugate the planet. It's protected. Earth is on the edge of Sontaran space, did you know? But it's marked black. Inhospitable territory. That's a designation that only plague planets and radioactive fallout zones get on Sontaran maps." 

She shook her head. "We're grateful, as a species, for what the Doctor did for us. He's a hero. And yet, gratitude is not why we refrain from targeting Earth." 

She stared straight into the private's primary eyes, because he needed to understand this, needed to know the danger. 

"It's because we would lose."


End file.
